Bautista Agut Keeps Alive London Hopes; Goffin Beaten In Basel

Roberto Bautista Agut kept alive his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday, but fellow London contender David Goffin fell in the Erste Bank Open second round.

Bautista Agut, who is attempting to join Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev as first-time qualifiers at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November, beat Richard Gasquet of France 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 over one hour and 44 minutes in Vienna.

In recording his 40th match win of the season, the Spaniard not only advanced to his 13th tour-level quarter-final, but also added 45 points to further strengthen his position of ninth in the ATP Race To London tally (2,530 points).

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Earlier in the day, Goffin, runner-up at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals (l. to Dimitrov) and 11th in the Race (2,325 points), could not find a way to break the serve of American Reilly Opelka and paid the price.

Opelka hit 29 aces in a 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-5 victory over the 2014 Vienna finalist in two hours and 25 minutes for a quarter-final clash on Friday against Bautista Agut.

Bautista Agut is just 40 points away from eighth-placed Italian Matteo Berrettini (2,570 points), with two singles berths left up for grabs at the Nitto ATP Finals. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Medvedev, Dominic Thiem and Tsitsipas have already booked their London tickets.